FANS COMMENT

Everton on the move...

Naïvely, I had thought that the idea of moving out of Liverpool was no more than just collateral damage caused by the urgent search for a new stadium. Kirkby happened to come up. Kirkby happens to be outside Liverpool — and it was no more sinister than that.

But I have been given information that Everton’s management is committed to moving out of Liverpool — whether it’s to Kirkby or even farther afield — if the plans for the Stade de Tesco don’t work out. Kenwright, I am told, is determined to move Everton geographically “out of the shadow” of Liverpool FC before their stadium is built, which he believes will overshadow Everton more than ever. He has come to believe, with the encouragement of Keith Wyness, that “living in their shadow” is one of the reasons Everton has not been able to attract decent outside investment.

In the United States especially, baseball, football, hockey and basketball teams are almost always safe monopolies. There are seldom two in the same city and when there are they often compete in entirely separate leagues. They don’t want a competitor, especially a giant competitor, in the same street. Wyness, who worked in the US for some years, will be familiar with this and with the ease with which US teams up and move from time to time. The argument goes that it’s an easier sell to a potential investor if you are the only team in a community — even if it’s a smaller, neighboring community.

It’s better — so the theory goes - to offer an investment opportunity in the only team in Knowsley, rather than the second most successful team in Liverpool. I disagree with any such move myself, but the fact that Manchester Utd attracts investment and City does not, that Aston Villa attracts investment and Birmingham does not, in Kenwright’s mind, seems to support his case. So, if Stade de Tesco falls through, expect a sudden interest in Runcorn… Skelmersdale…

Note: The Editors make no claims as to the veracity of the claims made in this article. As always, the views contained in Fans Comment articles may not correspond with those of the site owners. Editorial policy

Responses:

It never seems to amaze me, that every time the club looks to do something positive the conspiracy theorists come to the fore. Now I'm not saying I'm for or against the proposed move to Kirkby, but the club is exploring possibilities of bringing in extra revenue, that Goodison just does not provide, the opportunity to build in Kirkby must be explored, at least to see if it's feasible.

Peter Fearon's article claims the reasons for Everton's possible move to Kirkby, quote evidence that Kenwright and Wyness are determined to move the club outside of the city, as the only possibility of attracting investment is Bunkum. Nowhere in this article does Peter provide any of the 'evidence' in his possession to back this up. If, as Peter claims, no major investor is going to be attracted into investing into the so called 'poor relation in a two club city, then tell me why Ray Ranson and the Thai prime minister's consortium (who so nearly invested in Liverpool). are fighting over the 'smaller' Manchester club.

I'm sorry Peter, your article is poorly constructed and without foundation and appears to be merely a smokescreen for your own scaremongering opinion.
Roy Kroft

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